1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and an apparatus for painting nails, and more particularly, to a method and an apparatus which is adapted to be selectively and abuttingly placed around a user's nail and to allow paint and/or polish to be relatively quickly and efficiently applied to a nail while substantially preventing paint from being applied or transferred to skin, cuticles or other surfaces adjacent to or surrounding the nail.
2. Background
Individuals often decorate their fingernails and toenails for cosmetic purposes. One common method of nail decoration is to apply paint or polish to nail. This paint or "nail polish" is typically and selectively applied to the nail with a brush or other apparatus adapted to coat the nail with polish.
Typically, such nail painting brushes or apparatuses are incorporated into the cap of a nail polish bottle or container. The cap of the container is removed and the brush is selectively inserted in to the container, thereby operatively coating the brush with nail polish. The brush is then applied to the nail, thereby selectively transmitting the polish onto the nail. While this prior method and apparatus are effective to apply paint or polish to fingernails and toenails, they suffer several undesirable drawbacks.
For example, using the afore-described method and apparatus often causes polish to be undesirably transferred to cuticles and/or skin located adjacent to the nail on which the polish is being applied. Particularly, when the brush is applied directly to the nail, oftentimes the brush contacts the skin and/or cuticles that surround the nail. As a result, the surrounding skin and/or cuticles receive undesirable and unsightly amounts of polish. Additionally, while using the prior method and apparatus, excess polish often undesirably spills, drips, or "splatters" off of the end of the nail or the brush and onto the skin and other surrounding areas. The unwanted polish is generally removed from the skin, cuticles and/or other surrounding areas or surfaces by way of an abrasive tool or a chemical nail polish removing solution. Removing this unwanted polish requires excessive time and exposes the skin, cuticles and other surfaces to potentially harmful chemicals and/or abrasives. Furthermore, the significant amount time and effort required to carefully apply nail polish without having any significant amount of unwanted polish contacting the adjacent skin, cuticles and or other surfaces is inefficient, undesirable, and wasteful.
There is therefore a need to provide a nail painting method and apparatus which overcomes some or all of the difficulties and drawbacks associated with the previously delineated prior methods and apparatuses; which substantially prevents unwanted paint and/or polish from contacting the skin and cuticles surrounding the nail; which allows for the relatively efficient, neat, and quick application of polish to a nail; and which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and easy to use.